Lessons Learned
by Miakm90
Summary: AU-Santana never imagined her life ending up like this. She never thought shed move all the way to West Coast, nor did she imagine she'd be working for the FBI. Hell, she never thought she'd lose the one person that meant everything to her, until every changed. Now Santana will have to go back to her old life and face her demons. Quintana endgame.
1. Chapter 1

_Here she was, a month after graduation, boarding a plane to her new life. She knew everything would change once she got on the plane, her life would be completely different. As she passed though airport security and on to her flight gate, she heard the announcer say that her flight was boarding._

_She reached her seat, row 12 seat 1. Her hair glistened from the golden sun that made its way through the plane window. She opened her black bag and pulled out a book. She opened the book and began flipping to the first chapter. Before she could find the right page, a hand written note caught her attention. The note, written in eloquent cursive could only belong to one person. _

_She read the note, "I'll be seeing you soon."_

_Santana slammed the book shut and closed her eyes. 'When would this catch up to her' she thought to herself as the plane took off to her destination._

3 years later

_"I'll be seeing you soon", he whispered to her as the other officers rushed her to the ambulance._

Santana woke up from her nightmare. It was dark in her apartment aside from the light from her alarm clock and the moonlight that escaped through her curtains. The rain pattered against the window. Santana shut her eyes, trying to regain her lost sleep. The noise of the rain began to relax her; she thought of home and what it would be like if she went back. As sleep began to take over, she thought of the one person that she left behind.

Santana's alarm went off at 7am. As she awoke, she sighed, disappointed that it was only Tuesday. Nonetheless, she got out of bed, threw on her suit and holster, put her hair up in her signature high ponytail, ate a few bites of bagel, and went off to work.

Her apartment wasn't far from work, she could easily walk if she wanted, but today she took the bus; at least it would give her time to think before she went in to work. She got on the number 3 bus and grabbed the available seat near the front, quickly drifting off into her thoughts. _Another nightmare_ she thought to herself. They had been getting worse over the past few weeks, and she couldn't figure why.

The bus made it to her stop; she exited and walked slowly to her destination. As she entered the FBI Office and made her way into her office, she noticed an envelope on her desk. Just as she was getting ready to open it, another officer came in, "Detective, the chief would like to see you in his office, ASAP." Santana sighed and made her way over to his office. "Sit down, Lopez" Chief Smith said as she opened up his office door. She took a seat in front of his desk, parallel to where he was sitting. The look on his face was as it always was, slightly annoyed. She wasn't sure if he was mad or not. "Santana, as you already know, you are one of the best detectives that we have at the bureau, and we greatly appreciate all the great work you've done for us since arriving," Santana was getting a little nervous. It wasn't like him to say things like this unless somebody was getting fired. "I'm getting a little worried about you, you look a little off your game lately, is everything going okay?" Santana was utterly surprised. She took a moment to think of something, anything, to say, "Uh, yeah... Just tired is all. I've been drinking too much Starbucks and haven't had much sleep." The chief gave her what looked like a look of disbelief and continued, "Well, that's good and all but I need my agents at their best in the field. Maybe you should take a couple days off or take a vacation. You've worked every week day since you've arrived here. Think about it, will ya?" "I will sir. Am I dismissed?" Santana questioned. "Yes, you may leave. Also, you should have a couple emails that will help you on your case." And with that, Santana returned to her office.

_Four Years Ago_

_Senior year, the year Santana wanted nothing to do with. She was ready just to move on to her life already and get out of this scumbag town._

_Quinn pulled up in her Volvo at 7am to take Santana and her to school, right on time. Santana heard the car pull up in her driveway, tightened her ponytail, looked in the mirror one last time, grabbed her bag, and made her way out the door, her Cheerio skirt blowing in the wind._

_"You look pretty today, excited for school?" Quinn asked. Santana was amused that she even asked that question, "Thanks, Q. With you as the other co-captain, I need to at least try to look as good as you do. But you know that this year is no different from the others, just another boring old year." Quinn pulled out of the driveway, and they made their way to school._

"_Q, you left more clothes at my house again. Next time, I just might keep them. I brought them with; I will just leave them in your car." Quinn smirked, "You know I never remember them when I leave, probably because that isn't what I'm focused on when I'm at your house." Santana gave her a look. The conversation drifted off and all that could be heard was the noise of soft music._

_They arrived at school at 7:15, plenty of time to drop by their lockers and socialize with friends. As the two walked in, Brittany came up to join them, "Hey" Brittany said. Her face beamed with excitement. "Hey Brittany, where have you been all summer? Did you go on vacation?" Santana inquired. "Well, people thought I went on vacation, but I was just trapped in the sewers." Quinn tried not to laugh while Santana just looked at Brittany like she had gone crazy. 'Just like Brit to say something ridiculous' Santana thought to herself "Uh, right. Well, we'd better get going to class, don't want to be late on our first day." Santana sarcastically mentioned to the other girls._

_By sixth period, Santana was ready to get far, far away from school. Luckily for her, her sixth period was not only art, but another class with Quinn and Brittany. They took their seats near the back of the room, and the bell rang. The teacher began talking about the class, but Santana was in no mood to pay attention, not like anything she was saying would end up being relevant later on._

_Santana looked over at Quinn who was staring intently at the teacher, focused on every word she was saying. It was kind of cute. Santana didn't notice how much time had passed, and the bell rang for everyone to go home. All of the students made their way out of the classroom, including, Santana, Brittany, and Quinn. Quinn stopped outside of the classroom to wait for the other girls. As they made their way out, Quinn asked Santana, "Hey, you're still coming over for dinner tonight, right?" Santana quickly responded, "Yeah, I just need to drop by my house to grab a few things after practice and then I'll be over. Your mom is still out of town right?" Quinn was pleased by her response, "Yeah she is, I'll see you at practice then." Just like that, Quinn turned around and made her way to practice, her ponytail bouncing with each stride. _


	2. Chapter 2

Lima, Ohio

Present Day

The sun shone over William McKinley High School as it began to set. The students were all but gone for the day. The only noise coming from the hall was from the janitor cleaning up a slushy thrown by some of the more 'popular' students.

One young English teacher was hard at work grading her classes first papers of the year. She was slightly disappointed by the quality of the papers, especially since they had two weeks to complete the assignment. This wasn't exactly how she wanted her first year of teaching to go. As she was approaching the final couple papers in the stack, her phone rang. It was a call from Mercedes. She decided to answer the phone, " Hey Mercedes, what's up?" "Quinn, you're finally answering your phone?! Do you know how many times I have tried to call you? Are you still at work?" Quinn didn't even realize what time it was, but she noticed it was getting late, "Yeah, I think I just lost track of time." "Oh, hell to the no. You need to get out of that school, it cant be healthy to spend that much time there." Quinn laughed a little, amused that she didn't like the idea of spending time in their old high school. "Anyways Q, Im back in town for a few days to visit my parents and catch up with the Lima gossip, you want to grab something to eat?" Quinn didn't really want to leave these papers, but she figured that it was Friday, so she might as well enjoy her weekend. She answered "Sure, just let me know when and where." "How about 7 pm at Breadstix?" "Sounds perfect, see you then." This at least gave her a little time to finish reading this paper before she had to go out.

One paper later, Quinn was on her way to dinner. She had time to spare, so she decided to drop by her house before dinner. As she entered her house she turned on her foyer light and walked to her living room. She dropped her keys on the coffee table and walked into her office/photography studio to drop off her work on the desk. A picture sitting on the desk caught her eye, it was one of her and Santana on graduation day.

_Graduation Day_

_"Can you believe we did it?" Quinn asked Santana as she finished helping her zip up her dress. " Can you believe I did it without killing Berry?" Santana countered. Quinn looked at her scoldingly and responded, "You know, Rachel isnt that bad, she is actually pretty nice once you get to know her. Shes a good friend." Santana laughed, amused that Quinn even talked to her during high school, given their previous history together, " I cant believe you would even say that, she is irritating. If you like her so much, why don't you date her? It would be an improvement from that Jolly Green Giant she cant keep her man hands off of." Quinn wasn't amused, " Ew Santana, I cant even imagine. Either way, she isnt who I want. You know that." Santana became slightly flustered by Quinn's admission. Just as she was going to respond, Mrs. Lopez burst in the room. "Girls, we have to take pictures before we leave! Get in a pose so I can take a photo." Quinn and Santana obeyed and Quinn grabbed Santana in a tight hug, both girls smiling for the picture._

Quinn looked up at the clock at read 6:55, she had been standing there with the picture in her hand for nearly 15 minutes. She quickly grabbed her wallet and made her way to her dinner date.

Quinn arrived at 7:07. She knew Mercedes wouldn't be happy that she was late, so she made her way through the restaurant to where she knew Mercedes would be waiting. As she approached Mercedes in the booth that the Glee kids used to sit in, Mercedes stood up and pulled Quinn in for a hug. "You're late." Chastised Mercedes, " Its good to see you, its been what, like 2 years?" Quinn had to admit, she didn't keep in touch with friends like she should have after graduation, "Yeah, that's my fault, but its great to see you. How is big city life?" " Its been good, New York is one of my favorite places to live, for sure. Now that I have my own apartment and my record deal is finally rolling I can do what I love." Quinn continued, " I love New York. I would consider moving there someday. For right now, Lima is good for me. You finally got your own apartment though, huh? Living with Kurt and Rachel got to you, didn't it?" Mercedes cracked a smile at her last comment, "Yeah, I drew the line when they wanted to sing every time they were home, like, hell to the no. You should consider a move up to New York, there are plenty of schools to teach at and the art scene is amazing."

The two girls ordered their food and continued chatting through dinner. As they finished up they both exited the restaurant and walked out the parking lot. When they reach Quinn's car, Mercedes asked, "So have you heard anything from Santana? I know she up and dissapeared pretty quickly after graduation but I figured youd be the one person she kept in contact with." Quinn was taken by surprise, she didn't expect to be asked a question so long after she left. "No, I havent heard from her, and I probably wont. All I know is that she left me to go god knows where." Mercedes felt sympathetic towards the girl, "So she left you without an explanation too? After all you have been through together?" Quinn felt that familiar twinge of sadness that the memory of Santana brought. Quinn wondered if it would every go away. "Yeah, Im getting over it now. My life is good, im happy. Listen, I gotta run, those English papers wont grade themselves." Quinn smiled at Mercedes and gave her a hug. "Alright girl, just don't work yourself to death, and don't be a stranger. You can totally come visit me any time in New York." And with that, Quinn got in her car and drove off. She had the one person on her mind that she had tried so hard to forget.


End file.
